Freaky Fortunes
by Neo the Saiyan angel
Summary: Adrena Lynn hasn't had much luck since she failed to take on the girl that can do anything. Mellowed and alone, she tries to survive after the Lorwardians ravaged the planet. But she finally catches a break when a girl with a heart of gold takes a chance.
1. Chapter 1

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Right after the Lorwardian invasion. Mankind all coming together to help one another after the rampant destruction that the aliens had caused. It was a shining example of the selflessness that humans were capable of in the face of tragedy.

But frankly? Adrena didn't care.

Where was this supposed selflessness when she was still on the street, hungry and upset at the losses in her life?

After that mess with Kim Possible, she couldn't make a decent living. Not even flipping burgers. Oh, sure, they would hire her and give her the job. But everything came with some sort of snide comment, like "Heya Blondie. Make sure that you're flipping the real beef and not the fake kind. I know you have trouble telling the difference". Her former career as a stuntwoman was ruined. She had thought 'hey, who cares if a fake a few stunts here and there?'.

Apparently, everyone.

So Adrena quit all the small-time jobs she could get to keep what little pride she had left and just survived on the street. The meager savings she had were pretty much depleted by the time the Diablos occurred, so she didn't really have a place. She'd learned the hard way the places that were okay to sleep in overnight and the places to go get some okay tossed out food (she _refused_ to think 'garbage').

Occasionally, she would get handouts from some of the kids from that accursed Kim Possible's school. But they usually did it for laughs.

There was one girl...what was her name...Tana? She was the strange one of the group. Actually gave Adrena her entire lunch, untampered, whenever she walked by. That Bonnie one was a queen bitch, giving her spoiled or tainted food for the heck of it and laughing at that 'loser homeless lady'. But that...TARA! Tara was her name. She was nice. Had a strange habit of blushing when people touched her, but eh. Everyone has some sorta kink.

A small cough brought her out of her thoughts. '_Well speak of the devil..._'

The very blonde she had just been thinking of was leaning over, a smile on her quickly reddening face, and giving Adrena a quick look. Probably thought that she was asleep.

"H-hey. Uhm...you there?" Tara looked down for a second and then coughed louder. "Tara calling to Lynn. You...you didn't die, did you?"

Ah. Nevermind. The kid had thought that she'd died. It wasn't surprising, really. With the destruction that had happened, it was commonplace to find a dead body in a random place. And it wouldn't have been a surprise that Adrena had died where she was. She was sitting, leaning against a wall in the spot she usually hangs out in. It was a business district in one of the less ritzy areas of Upperton. Which simply meant that it was waaaaaaay above the average person's allowance but too poor for the Richie Rich's of the world to ever be seen at. The ditzy cheerleaders from that stupid school liked coming here and shopping, so she saw the same group wandering around, with Tara usually being in the rear. She was definitely a follower, that one. And a genuine ditz. Which was why Adrena wasn't surprised when Tara began to panic, even when Adrena's eyes were open.

She _was_ surprise when the girl grabbed her by the shoulders and started shaking her like a mixed drink.

"Hey! Wake up! Don't be dead. Please don't be dead!"

"Whoawhoawhoa!" Adrena grabbed a hold of Tara's arms and tried to get her to stop. Unfortunately, Tara jumped and screamed a little at the move. It got her to stop, but really didn't help with Adrena's balance. Thus her face became even more intimately familiar with the street she slept on.

If there was one thing that Adrena didn't missed about stuntwork, it was faceplanting the sidewalk.

"Oh my gosh! Oh, I'm so sorry." Tara bent down and helped Lynn sit back up. "I was--you scared me when you didn't move or anything. I thought that...maybe..." She trailed off and blushed even harder when Adrena began to chuckle.

"What, you thought that my insides had gotten splattered by one of those creepy tripod things?" She wasn't entirely sure how to feel about having actually been thought of as dead. Or actually getting a reaction out of this girl because of it.

"Quadropod."

"Eh?" Adrena tilted her head to look at the other blonde.

"'Tri' means that there's three of something. 'Quad' means four, like what those robots had." Adrena wouldn't have been more surprised if that naked rat thing had jumped up in front of her, dressed in drag, and then did the hula.

"Huh. Maybe I had you figured wrong."

"Hm?" Tara looked at Adrena, silently asking her to continue.

"I had you pegged as a blonde," she added as she straightened up and cracked her back. "Dang, how long was I laying there?"

"But I am blonde!" Tara smiled. Adrena just stared at her for a minute or so. "...what?

"...nevermind. So then," Adrena leaned against the wall again, "what brings you to my little broken-down corner of the world? Gonna spare me a sandwich?" It would be nice if she did. Adrena hadn't had a good bite to eat in nearly a week, the disaster keeping the garbages from filling with anything edible. And she absolutely refused to steal something so small. Another point where her pride kept her from doing something that would benefit her.

"Uhm...actually..." There went her face again. Adrena wondered if it might be a skin condition. "Well...my family is--well, we're pretty good with the money and stuff...and everyone's so down about the bad things that happened with the invasion..."

"Bad things?" Adrena looked around at the dilapidated buildings. "Heh. Yeah, I suppose it was pretty bad, huh?" She smiled an actual genuine smile at the girl.

Jesus, now she could be mistaken for a gigantic tomato! What was with her? "We'retryingtohelpwiththepeoplethatweredisplaced...andIwashopingyouwouldjoinus?"

"...kid, if you want me to actually understa--"

Tara stomped the ground angrily. "I'm NOT a kid!" she proclaimed before crossing her arms and sulked.

Damn, she was adorable when she was pouting. "Okayokay, you aren't a kid." Adrena got the urge to and decided to tweak the other girl's nose. "You're a spoiled brat."

Tara opened her mouth to protest, but quickly realized it was a joke when she saw the woman's smirking face. She couldn't help but to smile herself at it.

"Yeah, I guess I am kinda spoiled, huh? Especially looking at your clo--" She clapped a hand over her mouth and stared wide-eyed at Adrena.

"What?" Adrena looked at her clothes. "Yeah, I know. Filthy rags." Her clothes, once considered the ultimate in action fashion, were now merely torn, tattered, and dirty bits of threadbare fabric from the lack of care. "But hey, when it's between eating and clothes, food wins out." She shrugged like it was no big deal, but it hit at her pride a bit to look so...ugh. "You never said what you muttered," she redirected, unconsciously pulling at her clothes.

"Oh! Right." Tara giggled. "Sorry. I do that sometimes."

"I noticed."

Tara giggled harder. "Okay." She straightened herself and sighed before taking a big breath. "My parents are totally letting some of the people that were displaced by the attack in their home and I was wondering if you wanted to stay with my family for a bit? Until you can get back on your feet. Or even longer than that?"

The kid almost sounded hopeful with that last bit. She wanted a homeless person living with her? "Uh...you do realize that I was homeless _before_ the attacks, right?"

"...don'ttellmyparents? Please? Or else they won't let you stay."

And now the kid wanted her to come. Why? The only reason someone would go to these kind of lengths for someone was if they were expecting something out of it or--

Brain fart. Brain freeze. Then reboot.

The kid--this kid--this girl was crushing on her?

Well, it certainly explained the red face...

"So will you come?"

"Huh?" Tara obviously hadn't notice her freeze up.

"Come with me home? I promise, we'll get you food and new clothes and stuff. It'll be fun!" The gigantic smile that appeared on her face certainly made Adrena think it was possible.

Adrena sized up the situation. A hot young girl that had a major crush on her was offering her a nice comfortable place to sleep and eat and bathe as much as she wanted and give her time to get back to her former glory? Let's see...was this something any sane person would give up on? No? Well, Adrena was most certainly not crazy.

A little spark that had gone out in her years ago became relit. A strange excitement, one that took her a second to realize was giddiness, took hold of her. She couldn't keep it down, there was just too much excitement!

"Look out, world! Adrena Lynn's back, and things are gonna get FREAKY!" she shrieked, a manic laughter quickly following her scream.

"Oh joy!" Tara squealed. "We're totally going to be roommates and do each other's nails and everything!"

Hell. Yes.

* * *

_Another story written for a ship challenge on KP/. Figured that the award ceremony that Drakken was honored at that showed Adrena Lynn in regular garb took place a few weeks after the invasion. That's my thought on it, anyway._

_And is it just me, or are all my stories starting to sound the same?  
_


	2. Chapter 2

"So…where exactly do you live?"

"Hm?" Tara turned to look at Adrena and was surprised to find her trailing a short distance behind her.

"Where's your house?" She asked a bit more urgently this time. Adrena had tried to sound more casual with the question before, but the discomfort she was feeling was really starting to get to her as well as the intense gnawing of envy.

They were walking through one of the swankier neighborhoods in Middleton. Upper middle class well-off spoiled brats. As she looked at the immaculate yards and beautiful siding and strange little flamingos that didn't serve any purpose, Adrena felt the swellings of loathing for every one of them. What did they do to deserve any of this? And what was with the flamingos?

"Oh." Tara paused to let out a delicate giggle. "It isn't too far now." She looked up, surprised again, and walked back toward Adrena. "But you're so far behind me! It must be lonely back here." Her hand slipped into Adrena's before the older woman could react and practically started dragging her along. "Come on. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can grab an afternoon snaaa~aack," she added in a sing-song voice.

Damn. The girl was appealing to her greatest weakness right now: food. And having a hand to hold like this was a plus. She couldn't really remember the last time anyone touched her and it felt a bit strange to be holding hands with Tara. She didn't even seem fazed by it, like it was natural to grab a homeless woman's hand and lead her around.

Eh. Whatever. It wasn't like her own reputation was going to be tarnished by this.

Adrena began walking faster to try and keep up with the blonde. It was like trying to participate in some sort of marathon. What, was there some sort of invisible timer that she wasn't able to see? Maybe she was just eager to get her home. '_I _am_ gorgeous after all_' she preened to herself. But did they have to be going so fast? She was practically tripping over her own feet!

"What's with the rush, blondie? Afraid we'll miss out on lunch or something?" she snarked.

"No," Tara replied airily. "Lunch finished up hours ago. I just want to get you home." She turned her head to give Adrena a reassuring smile, which did nothing to help Adrena's strangely queasy stomach. "Don't you want to be able to finally kick back in a nice, comfy chair after so long of being on the street?"

"Of course!" Adrena snapped, slightly offended at the street remark.

"Hurry up then and we can get there faster and have lots of fun! Like eating chips and watching fashion shows and doing our nails and going shopping and—"

"I suppose it's just past all these snooty houses?" Adrena interrupted. She managed to pull Tara to a stop in front of a bright blue house and waved her free arm at it. "I mean, just LOOK at this place!" She shuddered for effect before continuing her rant. "Its yard is painfully clean—I mean, who would spend time trying to keep those things organized? And the paint job is freakish. It looks like they smashed some robin eggs on them. And oh my god, I think if I see another flamingo," she pointed at the happy dancing flamingo that had its legs twirling about in the light breeze, "I'm going to puke!"

Tara blinked, a confused look passing over her face as she examined the house. "Well, I suppose it is really perky." Then she smiled. "But it fits right in with the neighborhood! And isn't it nice to see something positive when things are so bad right now?"

Adrena's eye twitched and her body convulsed as she twisted away from Tara. "Ugh! There's positive and there's diabetes. Who would _live_ in a house like this, anyway?"

"I would!" Tara bubbled.

"…oh crap. Don't tell me you…?" Open mouth, insert foot.

"Huh?" the blonde looked at the quickly paling Adrena and tilted her head. "I…?"

"…live…here…?"

Tara blinked a few more times before breaking out into a laugh. All Adrena could do was stand there looking dumbstruck as the cheerleader kept laughing her head off. What was so funny?

"Mind letting me in on the joke?" she asked, trying to regain her composure.

The blonde laughed a few more moments before sighing and wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry! But…no, that isn't my house. That's Matilda's home." Her eyes traveled from Adrena to the house. "I never really knew how she managed to keep everything so prim and proper, but I guess her son pays for a landscaper or something." She leaned toward Adrena and whispered, "She has sciatica."

"Riiiight." And she needed to know this why? Well, at least she wouldn't be living in that eyesore.

"No, my house is right there!" Tara added, pointing to the dark orange house next door.

Ah. Great. Neighbors. Now she'd have to look at that place every day for who knew how long. At least there weren't any flamingos in the yard.

Tara led her along the sidewalk toward the less appalling home. The yard was not immaculate like the bright blue house, with weeds popping up every few feet. It also had arrangements of flowers planted here and there. Adrena figured there was some sort of reason for it, but it just seemed to be random to her. A two-door connected garage sat to the left of the main two-story house, a window above the doors showing that there was a room above the space.

"Is that where I'll be living?" she asked the blonde, pointing at the half-moon window.

The cheerleader's eyes followed Adrena's finger and she shook her head. "No. That's my brother's room."

"Brother?" the stuntwoman snorted. "Gonna have to share the house with a rugrat, too?"

"Oh no. Not at all." Tara began dragging Adrena toward the house again, keeping a firm grip on her hand. "My brother isn't a rugrat. He's 30."

"And still living at home? Talk about freaky." The older woman frowned. "When I turned 18, my parents tossed me out, no ifs ands or buts about it." Another strong wave of envy washed through her, making her unconsciously clench her teeth and grip Tara's hand tighter. She caught out of the corner of her eye that the other blonde had winced but done nothing else.

"My brother's just having a bad bit of luck. That's all. He just doesn't know what he's going to do with his life." Tara shrugged. "He could do whatever he wanted. It's just figuring out what he wants that he's having trouble with." She smiled as she pulled Adrena along the last bit of sidewalk that trailed to the front door. "It's been nice to have him around though."

"Schyeah, like _that's_ an excuse." Adrena frowned and tried to glare at the small window, but they were now under the house gutters which blocked the view. Damn lazy beatnicks…

They got to the front door where Tara knocked and rang the doorbell a few times. After a minute of nothing, she muttered, "he was supposed to be here…" before pulling out a Hola Kitten key and using it to open the deadbolt lock.

The second the door was opened, Adrena was bathed in a strong scent of lilacs. '_Someone could DROWN in that smell. So freaky!'_ she thought, scrunching her nose at the stench. She shook her head to clear it from the flowery haze as she was pulled through the door. A quick glimpse of the front room—a small room that looked like it was fit for greeting basic guests with several squishy chairs and a couch—was all she caught before she was whisked into the next room.

This room looked more like a dining area made for a small family. A four-person round table with a simple tablecloth sat in the middle of a fairly empty room. There was wallpaper along the upper portions of the wall that was designed with intertwined vines and flowers that cut off around Adrena's midsection, replaced by panels of wood. The wood ended at the light tan tiled floor. She could see faded spills that seemed to have just stuck to the tiles, more than a few of which were some kind of fruit drink. To her surprise, the room was double the size of the other room, allotting a large television and a stand to fit into the corner next to a window that gave a view of the house's backyard. Paintings hung around the room to fill in the empty space and a large china cabinet ate up one section of the wall, filled with what even Adrena could tell was fine china.

"This is a really nice place," Adrena found herself saying stupidly. It'd been years since she'd seen anything so big or well-kept, but that was no excuse…!

"Oh, well thank you! We try, but since it's just the three—" Tara glanced at the other woman "—make that four—of us, we don't really have much to work with décor-wise. None of us are really into feng shui and we didn't want to wreak the chi of the rooms."

"Chi?" Adrena cut off her smart mouth comment before she could let it out. She had already mouthed off enough today and wasn't sure the blonde would be so passive about insulting her own home.

"Energy flow. You know, positive and negative flow in a room." Tara shook her head. "It's really too complex for me." She suddenly straightened up and gasped. "You must still be hungry! Here—" Tara pulled out one of the wooden chairs and practically pushed Adrena into it "—you sit down and I'll go make you a sandwich."

"Er…" Adrena just sat and stared as the suddenly giddy cheerleader ran through a swinging door into what she assumed was the kitchen for a second before she remembered to yell "don't forget the tomatoes! A sandwich without them is just freaky!"

A soft humming could be heard from the kitchen a few moments later. The stuntwoman felt particularly out-of-place where she had been left, having grown comfortable resting or waiting on a curb or stoop. To try and distract herself, she looked out the backyard window.

To meet eyes with another plastic flamingo.

* * *

_Figured that since a lot of people wanted me to write more, I'd try my hand at it. We'll see if I update again or not._


	3. Chapter 3

Off the coast of Brazil, a man burst from the ocean, a briefcase breaking the surface next to him in a flop before it began to float on the ocean. Nothing could be seen of the agent but his tanned chin and cheeks as he opened the case to examine the innards.

"Retrieval of the nanowires was a success," he muttered to himself, picking up and taking a close look at what looked to be near-invisible threads of hair through his goggles. "Time to call HQ and—" His watch began to beep, a shrill noise that could wake even the dead. He quickly put the wires back into and shut the suitcase and clicked a button on the watch to check the time. "She isn't supposed to be home…"

The man clicked another button on the watch and looked at the reading. Then froze.

"Oh my—"

"_GAAAAAAAAH!"_

Adrena raised her arms into the air, grasping it and shrieking to nothing. It was like they were chasing her or something! What was with all of these freaky flamingos? Why were they all over the place? Why would anyone have one in their backyard?

She let her arms fall to her side and lolled her head back. Really, what _was_ the point of having a lawn decoration in your backyard? No one could really see it back there. Maybe it was some sort of thief deterrent? It would certainly deter her…

...-...-...-...-...-...

"Hmm…what to add…" Tara had immediately set to work on creating Adrena's sandwich, pulling out some lettuce, deli meats, mayonnaise, and tomatoes and setting them on the island that was in the kitchen. It looked like she had everything that one would need for a sandwich, but it still felt like something was missing…

She tried to remember all of the times that she had given Adrena sandwiches: the shrieking comments, the gagging, the backhanded compliments. Tara knew that her homeless friend didn't mean to be mean. No, she just really liked to make a joke of things. It reminded her of her best friend, Bonnie.

Bonnie always needed to have things her way, have control and be the best even at the cost of others. That sort of attitude had always made Tara uncomfortable. What was the point of doing that to other people? '_There always has to be losers, T_' Bonnie had always said. '_Just make sure you always have someone below you to be them._'

Tara could remember from years ago when she had first met Bonnie. She didn't use to be so cynical and cruel. Just an awkward young girl that had some mean older sisters. But the more her sisters won and lorded their statuses above her, Bonnie changed. She started dressing older, dancing harder, dating guys much older than her just to increase her status at school. As much as she hated it, Tara couldn't bring herself to do anything about it. She just let herself go along with Bonnie's suggestions for dates and clothing. It was just easier that way.

Now at least Tara didn't have to worry about her anymore. Her friend had found her rich knight in shining armor and hair gel to take care of her and show her sisters that she is, indeed, worth something. Last she'd heard, Bonnie was celebrating her oddly quick engagement to her boyfriend by starting on a world cruise to go to all the beaches around the globe. Bonnie had said she would call when she could…the last one had been two weeks ago.

That was okay though. Bonnie was probably just enjoying herself. Getting massages, bathing in mud, relaxing with some cucumbers on her—

"Cucumbers!" she suddenly cried. THAT'S what she had forgotten. Adrena had commented that one time when Tara had brought her a sandwich that cucumbers were really good to have on a sandwich. She opened up the door to the white speckled fridge and rooted around for one of the vegetables.

Tara opened the vegetable drawer and stood for a few seconds, letting the cold air from the fridge roll over her as she thought more about her friend. Her main problem was that now she was alone for the most part. Sure, Tara had some casual friends from the cheer squad and a few others, like some of the people from the chess team that she could call. But none of them were her Bonnie.

No…not _her_ Bonnie. Her friend Bonnie. That had a boyfriend/fiancé. Her best friend that she dearly missed. The loss of B left some sort of hole in Tara. She didn't know what it was, but it ached fiercely ever since even before her brunette friend had left on her trip. The same area that always got tingly and hot whenever Bonnie gave her one of her mischievous smiles.

Tara hadn't known what to do to fix it. It was just painful and strange and something that Bonnie just would not have tolerated. And now things looked to be settled in a way that left the blonde in an unhappy position.

But she had seen Adrena sitting by herself a few days before and had felt…something. Not pity. True, she pitied the woman, but this was _definitely_ not pity. It was a tiny excited tingling. Not as much as she felt whenever she thought of Bonnie. She wasn't even sure _why_ she got this sort of feeling with women like her friend. Adrena, though…she gave her this strange feeling and it helped to make the hole that was in her fill up just a bit.

Strangely, Tara wasn't able to find the cucumbers in the veggie drawer like she thought she would. She shut the drawer and straightened up, letting her back crack. The blonde pulled a knife off the knife rack that sat next to the fridge in one smooth motion and searched through the rest of the refridgerator for the cucumbers. She didn't really like them herself. They were a bit too crunchy for her taste. Tara liked to just relax and chew on something soft when she wanted a simple sandwich so she could space off better. To each their own, though.

She had just closed the door to the refrigerator when a loud scream burst through the air. It wasn't horrified or angry. It sounded more like the kinds of screams that Bonnie had when her dates cancelled and her sisters took her clothes without asking. Frustrated and annoyed, that's what it was. And Tara was sure that it had been her new houseguest that had shrieked.

Tara bit her lip as she tentatively approached the door to the dining room. The worst-case scenarios flashed through her head: her mother had come home before she could explain, her brother came down and tried one of his 'super spy' moves on what he would see as a home invader, Matilda wandering over to borrow something and scaring Adrena…or maybe she hurt herself…or maybe the aliens came back and started to—

No. Tara shook her head to clear it. There's no way the aliens would come just to remove one woman's brain and spine. Well, not _this_ woman, anyway. Kim would probably be the target in that situation.

Wait. She shouldn't be thinking of that. Her guest had screamed and she should be going to check out what happened. So Tara steeled herself for what could possibly be wrong and went into the dining room.

...-...-...-...-...-...

Agent Gedum sighed as he walked down the long nondescript hallway of GJ headquarters. He had been trying for the last…how long? Four days? Close to five? He checked his cell phone and groaned. Nearly 100 hours straight of walking around the complex, failing to find even a hint of another person, much less the room he had been told to go to to pick up some routine paperwork. He would have called for help, but he'd lost his commwatch at some point during the second day and his cell phone couldn't get through the walls. Not to mention he was underground.

Most people probably would have given up and just curled up somewhere in the first few hours, but Joe wasn't one to simply give up like that. Being a middle linebacker on his school's football team made him built to be tougher and more stubborn than most others. And considering how dense some of his teammates were, he's better able to handle frustration as well.

But trying to explain to Brick the quarterback about how you can't just pull the ball out of someone's hands and run with it was nothing compared to trying to navigate this maze. Several days ago, Dr. Director herself asked him to get her a refill of Form 212.3b from the west wing of the administration office. He had left her office, following the directions she had told him…and hadn't seen hide nor hair of a person or place since. Heck, the only reason he was alive was because he kept running into vending machines and a unisex bathroom every day or so.

Much to his frustration, he'd found that it was the same set of vending machines that he kept passing throughout his long fruitless journey. He had marked on the small table in the corner of the open area with a highlighter and had discovered that the table in every single vending machine spot had the same marking on it.

The little bit of wisdom that he had had told him to just wait by the vending machines until someone came by for a snack, but the words went unheeded by the linebacker. The big boss lady was counting on him to get her those documents and he would not fail!

He was just starting to hope that the vending machines would come up again just so he would have a chair to sit in for a small rest when the wall ten feet ahead suddenly opened up, spitting out another agent onto the ground. The agent was dressed in a still-wet full-body scuba outfit and was carrying a suitcase, but that didn't matter to Joe. All that mattered was that it was another person. Another person that might actually know where in the world the administrative office was. Or, maybe, the exit.

So with all the dignity and grace that Agent Gedum could muster, he approached the senior agent.

He obviously didn't have much left.

One second, the agent had been trying to cut through the training area of headquarters to take the shortcut to Doctor Director's office. The next second his ear was overwhelmed by an enormous war-cry of some sort and he was flying through the air, subject of a mid-air tackle.

Thanks to his training, the agent managed to roll with the tackle and free himself from his attacker. He rolled up into a kneeling stance and aimed his watch at his opponent, taser ready.

He was surprised to find that it was not a member of WWEE as he'd originally thought, but a recruit. A recruit that he was repulsed and irritated to find in violation of the hygiene code. That wasn't the biggest thing to catch his attention though. The recruit was in violation of several other codes as he began to cry and praise his deity…or deities.

"Thank you Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Thor, and anyone else that I had prayed to!" Joe cried in relief. "Thank you for showing mercy on this poor intern!" He got up from his knees and grabbed the other agent's hand in appreciation. "Sir, you have _no idea_ how much I appreciate you coming here and saving me."

The agent blinked, nonplussed. "My apologies, but I only came through here as a shortcut to Doctor Director's office. You are…?"

"Oh! Right." Agent Gedum searched through his jumpsuit's numerous pockets for his identification card. He could've sworn that he had put it in his front pocket, but was surprised to find it in his back pocket. Pushing his confusion aside, he presented his card to the other agent. "I'm Agent Gedum. I just started a few days ago."

The other agent's eyes lit up in recognition. "Ah. That's right. You came with the batch of new agents. An intern." He said the last sentence with a sort of disdain that immediately made Joe less appreciative of him. The agent looked from the card to him several times, his face falling to a dissatisfied frown. "You don't look much like the picture on your card." He gave the new agent a sharp glare. "You were instructed on the day that you were to have your picture taken for your identification card that you were not supposed to dress in any way other than what you look like on a normal day."

"Huh?" Agent Gedum took the card from the senior agent and looked at the picture. "I don't—"

The senior agent sighed and pulled a small mirror out of a side pocket, holding it out for Joe to make a comparison. Joe looked into the mirror and winced. His usually softly spiked brown hair was lying flat against his skull, shiny with grease and his tanned face had broken out into a vicious acne outbreak, many of them concentrated on his bulbous nose.

"Ouch. This is gonna take a while to fix." He gingerly touched his nose, his thoughts turning to how his dating life would be on hold for a while, before he snapped back to reality. "But I have an explanation!"

"I have an explanation _sir_," the other agent corrected.

Joe ignored what he considered a barb and dove right in. "I was sent by Dr. Director herself to get form 212.3b from the west wing of the administration office. But—" he self-consciously scratched the back of his head "—I seem to have gotten lost…"

Did the other agent just smirk? "So you stopped me from finishing my mission because you happened to get lost?"

"Not just lost, sir. I've been down here for several days!" Joe anguished. "I haven't seen my family for days. Heck, you're the first person I've seen in nearly a week!" He rubbed his wet face on his jumpsuit. "Now that you're here, I can finally—…huh?" Where the agent had been standing in front of him was now devoid of said agent. Joe quickly looked around the hallway to see the agent had gone down the hallway a short ways.

The agent knocked on the wall in a sequence that Agent Gedum didn't recognize. A panel opened up and the scuba-clad agent presented his card. A beeping noise that Gedum recognized as the all clear was issued from the opening and a tube descended from the ceiling.

"As much as I recognize your plight, I cannot tarry here any longer. Doctor Director is waiting for me and I cannot keep her waiting," the agent quickly said before he was sucked up into the tube.

Joe had been transfixed by the scene up until he realized that he was being left alone again. He went into a staggered run for the tube, screaming, "WAIT! Don't leave me here!" Before he could even make it half the way there, the tube, the panel, and any hope Joe disappeared into the hallway walls without a trace.

The intern had caught more momentum than he had intended with his haste to catch the way out and ended up plowing into the nondescript wall. He bashed into the wall and fell to the ground, slightly dazed. The reality of the now once again hopelessly lost situation hit him full-on once he had gained his senses and got himself right-way up.

He dramatically got to his feet and stumbled to the middle of the hallway before dropping to his knees like he knew that most people did when faced with something this dramatic. Tears flowed freely from his eyes as he gripped his hair and pulled before he raised his head to the heavens and screamed for all he was worth.

* * *

_Gasp! A new chapter! I know, I'm as surprised as you guys. Thanks to Pojko and kgs-wy for looking at the chapter before I posted. Enjoy!_


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